Việt Nam lose to Indonesia in AFF U16 champs

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam lost to Indonesia 2-4 in the third match of Group A at the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) U-16 Championship in Indonesia on Thursday.

The game was held at the Delta Sidoarjo Stadium.

With the support of fans at the hometurf, the hosts Indonesia controlled the game as soon as the referee blew his whistle. However, Việt Nam had the opener in the sixth minute thanks to Đinh Thanh Trung.

Indonesia fought back strongly and equalised the score in the 29th minute. Supriadi overcame a Vietnamese defender to beat goalie Duy Dũng.

After the break, Thành Tài made a foul with captain Maulana in the penalty area so Indonesia enjoyed a penalty kick. Not missing this chance, Amirudin Bagus helped the hosts take the lead 2-1.

In the 60th minute, Bagus completed his second goal to raise the score to 3-1.

Just 10 minutes later, Việt Nam dragged themselves back into the game with a penalty that was slotted home by Trung to put the score at 3-2 to Indonesia.

But the hosts were not finished yet and deep into injury time, Andre Oktaviansyah fixed the match of 4-2 in favour of Indonesia.

The win gave Indonesia nine points from three matches played while for Việt Nam, it was their first loss of their campaign.

“It was a very good match and Indonesia pressed us hard,” said Việt Nam head coach Vũ Hồng Việt. “Now we will have to make sure that we win our remaining matches for a place in the next round.”

Việt Nam will next meet the Philippines on August 4 and Myanmar on August 6.

The AFF tournament will be a warm-up for Việt Nam to prepare for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-16 Championship to be held in Malaysia in September. — VNS